Adherence to good lawmaking principles is linked to the rule of law. To ensure the production of good legislation, provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament regulate individual issues related to the legislative process and set certain rules that must be followed when drafting and submitting a bill or an amendment for voting (see, inter alia, Articles 74, 75 of the Constitution, Articles 85, 87, 88 and 101 and in general Articles 84-123 and 160 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament). Furthermore, law 4622/2019 regulates, through Articles 57 to 64, issues of legislative procedure and good legislation.
Based on these general rules and Article 59 paragraph 5 of law 4622/2019, the Manual of Legislative Drafting Methodology, issued in 2020, analyses and specifies the rules that must be observed in the framework of the legislative drafting process. This handbook provides, inter alia, instructions and directions regarding: the public consultation process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).
On 6/10/2023 at 16:40, a bill entitled “National Network of Care Units for the treatment of stroke patients” was put to public consultation by the Ministry of Health. The draft in question consisted of 6 articles, which – as the title of the bill indicates – regulated issues relating exclusively to the creation, staffing and operating of Care Units for stroke patients.
On 23/10/2023 the bill was submitted to Parliament for adoption.
On 31/10/2023 at 22:35, amendment 30/6 31.10.2023 was submitted by the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family, containing 2 articles regulating issues relating to the temporary administration of social welfare agencies and the funding of programmes to provide access for pre-school children, infants and toddlers to pre-school services and access for children, adolescents and persons with disabilities to creative employment services.
On 01/11/2023 at 18:35, amendment 31/7 1.11.2023 was submitted by the Ministry of Health. This amendment contained 3 articles, which regulated issues regarding Selection Boards for Doctors and Dentists of the National Health Service and the vaccination of adults against influenza.
These amendments were tabled, respectively, two days and one day before the bill was passed, and therefore after the deadline for submitting amendments had already passed. Furthermore, they contained provisions that were in no way related to the issue regulated by the draft law that underwent consultation and was introduced for adoption. This is confirmed by the inclusion of these provisions in Part B of the final law, which is entitled ‘Other urgent provisions under the responsibility of the Ministries of Health and Social Cohesion and Family’ and by the introduction of the phrase ‘and other urgent provisions’, into the title of the final law.
On 31/10/2023 the Standing Committee on Social Affairs prepared a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the bill.
On 02/11/2023, the bill was debated in the Plenary of the House of Representatives and Law 5063/2023 was passed, now entitled “National Network of Care Units for the treatment of stroke patients and other urgent provisions” and consisting of 11 articles (5 of which come from the two amendments mentioned above).
In a state governed by the rule of law, the Government and the Parliament must, in the process of preparing and passing legislation, follow the principles of good lawmaking and apply the rules established to promote and ensure it. This is because good lawmaking is linked to the constitutional principles of transparency and legal certainty, and the application of its rules and principles seek to avoid the phenomena of maladministration and omnibus legislation, which are inconsistent with the principles of the rule of law.
In Greece, however, the violation of these rules of good lawmaking appears to be a long-standing and systematic problem, as highlighted by the legislative journey of Law 5063/2023.
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